I have taken interest in becoming a one pass member. At the moment I have been flying US Airways and have a Dividend account with US. I would like to switch over to Continental One Pass, mainly due to my location and the good things I have heard about Continental Airlines.

Now my questions.
How easy is it to upgrade being a Gold or Silver level One pass member?
I fly a lot of international flights and would most likely use miles to upgrade from an economy fare.. How much luck would I have upgrading that way?? Anyone have experiences they could share about upgrdes internationally(and domestic) with one pass miles. Interested in trans pacific flights and atlantic flight.

would like some comments about the ff program and anything about the airline in general.

Thanks
Jorge

[This message has been edited by B767-200ER (edited 11-30-2000).]

[This message has been edited by B767-200ER (edited 11-30-2000).]

Hi!

CO is very good in international non-upgrades!

serious:
Is very very hard to get int. upgrade!!!
First you have to buy a qualifying fare which is normally about $200-300$ more than really deep discounted fares - no upgrades on those $400 or $500 sales to europe etc.
Then you have to hold your breth because you spend that money, til about 30 days before your flight and then you are allowed to use the miles to upgrade or not to upgrade.

As a silver (or gold) with the new upgradesystem domestic (all the platinums are in front of you all the time whether they want it or not) you ge:

FREE-UNLIMITED-NON-UPGRADES

I bet you really want to become a member now that you know all the details!

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Viele Gr��e

Oliver

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I'm a CO silver elite member, and have been pretty happy with the airline. Overall, I think the only benefits to being a (low) silver elite member are the mileage bonus (50%) and the domestic first class upgrades. But it is getting hard for silver (and gold) members to get domestic upgrades now with the automatic upgrade system. I think a silver doesn't have much of a chance for a complimentary domestic upgrade now unless they travel at off-peak times (mid-week or saturday).

As far as int'l upgrades, germanfflyer is pretty accurate. They are hard to get. However, it seems from what I read that if you buy a qualifying fare and are a plat or gold member, then waitlist for the businessfirst seat, and are high on the waitlist you usually clear. But, what is annoying is that sometimes the seat doesn't clear till a few days (or even less) before your departure. CO holds on to try to sell the seats as LONG as they can. So it can be frustrating waiting till the last minute, especially when you already paid a higher coach fare, to try and get the upgrade. Hope this info helps. If you have specific detailed questions about onepass, this is definitely the right place to ask

OnePass WAS a great program, but seems to be declining, IMO. You can find lots of threads about upgrades just by searching in the Continental forum.

These are some of the most recent, mainly pertaining to the new EUA system (automated upgrades.)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/001527.html http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/000732.html http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/001492.html http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum20/HTML/001576.html


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Bob

CO OnePass is declining for sure, but can you name a better program??? I think not!!!

B767-200ER,

You would be making a good decision by switiching over to OnePass. If IAH is your home airport then you have CO's ever expanding route network and largest hub at your fingertips (or does CO have YOU at their mercy???), versus some US connections via CLT, PIT, or PHL, which really aren't that convenient when you have to head out west.

Welcome to the OnePass Brotherhood (and Sisterhood.)

I am Platinum on CO and Chairman's on US. OnePass is an excellent program, but Dividend Miles is more generous with upgrades at the lower tiers. Unfortunately, the point is moot, since US will soon be subsumed into UA, whose program is not as good as either of these.

If you have an intention of becoming Platinum elite at 75K miles, then go for it. If not at that level, run.

One pass is terribble at running a loyalty marketing program, not truly respecting it's elite flyers or their opinions. At the top tier, you get enough perks for it to be worth it. At the other levels, you would be subject to CO's ever changing benefits and issues.

as a 30 or 40 k a year flyer, you'd be better off with a reputable program on another airline. Then, if you achieve elite on UA or AA, CO will probably send you a free, unsolicited Platinume elite membership anyway.